OpenAI launches community energy plan for $500 Billion Stargate Data Centre project

OpenAI on Tuesday announced a Stargate Community plan designed to ensure that its rapidly expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure does not increase electricity costs for local communities.

The initiative is part of Stargate, a $500 billion, multi-year programme to build large AI data centres for training and inference. The project is backed by major investors, including Oracle, and received public support from U.S. President Donald Trump when it was first unveiled in January 2025.

As access to reliable energy becomes an increasingly critical constraint for AI development, technology companies are stepping up investments in power generation and transmission to support growing data centre demand. OpenAI said each Stargate facility will now include a locally tailored community plan shaped by feedback from residents and local stakeholders.

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“Depending on the site, this can range from bringing new dedicated power and storage that the project fully funds, to adding and paying for new energy generation and transmission resources,” the company said.

The goal, OpenAI added, is to “pay its way on energy” and prevent its operations from placing additional strain on local electricity grids or pushing up power prices for nearby households and businesses.

OpenAI’s announcement comes days after Microsoft introduced a similar initiative focused on reducing water consumption at its U.S. data centres and limiting the impact of increased electricity demand on surrounding communities. Microsoft has said it will pay utility rates that fully cover its power usage and work with local utilities to expand energy supply where necessary.

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The moves highlight how energy and infrastructure considerations are becoming central to the next phase of AI expansion, as companies race to scale computing capacity while managing their environmental and community footprint.